Megaustenia imperator Raw sequence reads. Megaustenia imperator

Megaustenia imperator (Gould, 1859) is a land snail and a transitional species from shelled to shell-less slugs. Mitochondria are vital organelles, and play various essential roles in eukaryotic cells, particularly with respect to their primary function in respiratory metabolism and energy production. Here we report the complete mitogenome of the land snail M. imperator from South China for the first time. The mitogenome content and its protein-coding gene organisation resembled those of other snails. According to the phylogenetic tree, M. imperator was most closely related to Deroceras reticulatum, providing a basis for further studies on the phylogenetics of semi-slugs according to dietary type.

帝王巨蜗牛（Megaustenia imperator, Gould, 1859）是一种陆生蜗牛，同时也是从有壳蜗牛向无壳蛞蝓演化的过渡类群。线粒体（mitochondrion）是真核细胞内至关重要的细胞器，参与多种核心生理过程，其在呼吸代谢与能量产生中的核心功能尤为关键。本研究首次报道了采自中国南方的帝王巨蜗牛的完整线粒体基因组（mitogenome）。该线粒体基因组的组成及其蛋白编码基因的组织结构，与其他蜗牛类群高度相似。系统发育树分析结果显示，帝王巨蜗牛与网蛞蝓（Deroceras reticulatum）亲缘关系最近，这为基于食性类型开展半蛞蝓类群的系统发育研究提供了重要基础。